1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to painting apparatus and processes for applying high quality automotive type paints to vehicle bumpers including cars, trucks, vans or the like. This invention relates more particularly to devices known generally as painting stands for use in supporting articles of body work or the like during the paint application process.
2. Prior Art
In many facilities engaged in activities such as auto body repair, auto restoration, truck body repair, and auto or van customizing, a need arises to paint some or all of the automobile, truck or van body parts. In most cases in which a high quality paint finish is desired, the need arises to separate the plurality of body components and accessory items such as fenders, bumpers, hood, trunk, trim pieces and fuel access door covers for the painting process. This disassembly of component body parts and accessories is undertaken to ensure that a high quality paint finish will be applied to major panel surfaces and to the surrounding edges of each body component. The painted pieces and components are then reassembled onto the vehicle resulting in a high quality paint job.
The paints utilized in such automotive and other vehicle painting processes are highly specialized paints formulated to provide an extremely high gloss smooth even finish free of defects and exhibiting great luster. As a result, the painting process must be undertaken with great skill and care to avoid defects such as runs or overspray which are exaggerated on such high luster paint applications.
In a typical painting facility of the type used in automotive truck and van body painting, a separate painting area usually enclosed and often referred to as a spray booth is provided. The enclosure of the spray booth helps to control the painting environment and provide the necessary lighting and ventilation for the painting application. In addition, the filtering systems operating on the spray booth minimize the amount of dust or other airborne particles within the environment. In addition, one or more air-driven spray guns each coupled to a supply of compressed air by long flexible hoses are operated to apply the paint itself.
The art of spraying such high gloss mirror-like finishes on the often multiply curved multiply faceted components typical of vehicle body parts is a matter of great training and skill. A major factor in achieving such skillful paint spraying is the provision of proper lighting together with the ability to easily move and reorient the articles being painted. A skilled spray painter watches the light reflected off an article as the paint is sprayed thereon to gage application of the paint. Preferably, the article being sprayed is movable to be viewed at a critical angle which allows the spray painter to observe reflection off the accumulating paint. The paint spraying activity is a demanding activity in which mistakes and mishaps can be extremely costly to rectify. One of the more critical elements in this demanding environment of the spray booth is the painting stand used to hold the article or articles being painting. Ideally, the paint stand supports the article or articles being painted in a manner which avoids entanglement with the plurality of compressed air hoses operating the spray gun or spray guns as the painter moves about while providing easy preferably one-handed manipulation of the supported part by the painter.
Faced with the critical need for aiding spray painters in painting such body parts or articles, practitioners in the art have provided a virtually endless variety of paint stands known under different brand and product names. Some of these devices are highly specialized being specifically designed for a single type of article such as bumpers or the like. Others, however, are more generally fabricated for use on a variety of articles and are little more than supporting racks having a plurality of hooks extending therefrom for hanging parts during painting.
One such typical painting stand is manufactured by Time Shaver Tools in Orange, Calif. under the product name Bumper Thing Stand which provides a set of angularly disposed wings coupled to a pivotal support and supported by a center post on a rolling base.
Another typical painting stand is manufactured by Brut Manufacturing Company in Navarre, Ohio under the product name Deluxe Bump-Bench which provides a plurality of converging upwardly extending U-shaped elements supported by a center post on a rolling base. A tilt handle secured to the base is provided for portability.
Other similar devices manufactured by KNO:GREEF MANUFACTURING in Edmonton, AB Canada under the product Ultimate Auto Body Parts Stand provides a combination stand for a variety of parts having a T-shaped base and an extending center post which vertically supports a multiply articulated arm set for receiving and securing the to-be-painted articles.
Examples of more generally used rack-like devices are provided by DAR-A-CON Industries, Inc. in Monett, Mo. under various product names such as Tilt Table and Portable Scissors Table.
A typical paint stand of highly specialized use for supporting vehicle bumpers is manufactured by Steck Manufacturing Company under the product name Bumper Tree which provides a paint stand having a fixed X-shaped base supporting a vertical post upon which a similar X-shaped member is supported for receiving bumpers or similar articles.
While the prior art devices such as those described and identified above have provided some improvement in the art and enjoyed in some instances commercial success, they are generally limited in their functionality and are, for the most part, subject to several faults.
For example, color match. When painting bumpers, of paramount importance to a spray painter is to ensure that there is color match with the rest of the car and it helps the practitioner to achieve this result by being able to paint the bumpers in the same position as they are on the car. It is known to those accomplished in the spray painting profession that gravity has an effect on some colors as it dries from a liquid to a solid form.
By utilizing the articulating function of this current invention, the spray painter is able to easily and efficiently position the bumper in whatever orientation they wish by the simple act of depressing the foot pedal.
Bumpers come in many shapes and sizes, and there exists a great need for a painting stand that will accommodate most, if not all types, sizes and shapes of bumpers. Prior art bumper stands currently in use which are billed as “adjustable” require the spray painter to make a lot of adjustments with sliding parts, which become clogged with paint overspray and over time become next to impossible to move or adjust, and which require constant maintenance and cleaning.
The present invention is flexible and has no sliding parts to adjust. Instead, the flexible mounting bracket conforms to the shape of the bumper and nests on the inside of the bumper for easy mounting. By utilizing the flexible mounting bracket of this invention, and two zip ties, a spray painter can have a bumper mounted, fastened and ready to paint in literally seconds with no adjustments necessary. The value and advantages that come with the ability to easily and quickly affix most any bumper to a painting stand without the necessity to make a lot of adjustments, and which eliminates the need for maintenance and cleaning of the painting stand is readily apparent to those accomplished in the art of spray painting bumpers.
Workers compensation claims are a reality of the world we currently work and live in. The ability of a spray painter to be able to access all bumper surfaces and openings and edges and any difficult bumper areas without requiring him or her to kneel, bend, twist or contort their body into uncomfortable or inaccessible positions greatly eliminates the risk of muscle strains and sprains or bodily injury associated with performing such gyrations, especially by any spray painters who may not be in optimum physical shape to do so.
This present invention quickly and efficiently solves those problems by allowing the bumper to rotate with the simple push of a foot pedal. By pushing the foot pedal of this invention and causing the bumper to rotate, the spray painter has full and easy access to bottom edges, openings, and other difficult to reach areas. Not only does this eliminate most all of any need of the spray painter to bend, squat, twist or contort their body to complete the job, it also allows for an improvement in the job satisfaction of the spray painter and the overall quality of the paint finish, as the spray painter is always in a proper upright and relaxed posture, allowing them the ability to perform their best work without fatigue.
Adjusting and changing the position of a bumper during the spray painting operation while using prior art bumper stands always runs the risk of accidently touching or brushing a wet painted bumper surface or contamination of the spray painters hands or gloves by touching a part of the painting stand (knobs, levers and latches) that are wet with paint from overspray. Now the spray painter is getting wet paint on his spray gun and anything else he touches, possibly setting off a domino effect of contaminating a variety of items, surfaces and clothing with wet paint and generally making an unnecessary mess of everything touched. Even if the surface touched is not wet, the spray painter still runs the considerable risk of having dried paint stick to their hand or glove and then sprinkle off the hand or glove onto the freshly painted bumper surface while the spray painter is working, causing undesirable paint finish results.
This invention resolves all of these problems by allowing the rotation and adjustment of the bumper being painted without the spray painter using his hands, or touching anything other than a foot pedal with his or her foot. The spray painters hands remain clean and free of wet paint or dry paint dust, and the chance of accidently touching, brushing or contaminating the freshly painted bumper surface and ruining the fresh paint job is greatly reduced.
Lastly, prior art devices often fail to provide a solution to the vexing problem of involvement or entanglement with the compressed air hoses utilized in supplying compressed air to the paint sprayers within the booth. When using prior art devices this problem is major in its impact in that a typical spray painter often becomes fully involved in paint application and spray gun manipulation moving about the bumper being painted to access all surfaces, openings, edges and difficult areas, and fails to prevent the entanglement of such hoses. One unfortunate tug on an entangled hose which tips over a paint stand having articles thereon can erase much of the profit anticipated in the painting activity.
The present invention resolves that issue, again by allowing the spray painter full and easy access to bottom edges, openings, and other difficult to reach areas with the simple push on a foot pedal, causing the bumper workpiece to rotate in place and provide the spray painter with ready easy access to all bumper surfaces while remaining in a stationary location.
Thus, in the case of currently available prior art bumper painting stands, there remains an unresolved and unfulfilled need in the art for a more efficient, cost effective, versatile and useful bumper painting stand. That need is met and fulfilled by the present invention.